Ordering from a menu typically includes reading from the menu and making a selection that must be remembered while waiting for an employee to come over and transcribe the order to a piece of paper. After the employee takes the order, the piece of paper is delivered to an order processing area to process the selections. The employee then delivers the selections, and at some later time, the employee must be present to receive payment for the selections. This reliance on the employee to deliver the order and be present for payment can significantly slow the ordering and payment process. The desire for more efficient order management and a streamlined customer experience has therefore led to the development of the present inventive concept.
Current methods for addressing aspects of ordering or payment fall short. Some current remote ordering systems utilize electronic menus that suffer from undesirable complexity and high cost. An example is an electronic menu that consists primarily of a tablet personal computer (tablet pc) having a large touch-screen display on which all menu options and ordering icons are displayed. The touch-screen is typically made of transparent touch-panels overlaying a liquid crystal display to provide an interactive digitized menu interface. The tablet pc is made to be a robust computing machine capable of tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet manipulation, or virtually any other software need relying on considerable operating system, processing and memory requirements. The adoption for use in menu-ordering is therefore typically a software program running through a standard operating system such as WINDOWS. This reliance on an underlying operating system to run menu applications can make the platform unstable and susceptible to crashing.
Another drawback to current electronic menus is that complex electronic devices such as tablet pc's are costly to manufacture and repair, and are susceptible to damage. The touch-panels and screens are typically layered glass or other brittle materials, and could shatter if dropped, bent, or if too much force is applied, such as one's elbow being placed on the screen. Tablet pc's are generally not manufactured to be water resistant, and can be easily damaged by liquids or food items.
Power requirements of tablet pc's are also a concern. Backlighting requirements as well as substantial processor and memory requirements of the prior art menus require significant power to run. A drawback of increased power requirements is the production of significant heat that requires active cooling to dissipate it. Cooling devices for internal components use venting to accommodate air exchange to the interior of the devices. That venting can provide openings for spilled beverages, cleaning supplies, or any other liquid to enter the devices and damage or destroy it.